Roll paper towel dispensers are well known. They are most commonly found in and around lavatories, bathrooms, wash sinks and the like to enable users to dry their hands and other body parts after washing. Paper towel dispensers are typically mounted onto a wall to permit user access thereto, with the dispensers being manually actuated by the user to dispense a desired length of paper towel from a paper towel roll. One drawback of many conventional paper towel dispensers is that users are allowed to freely dispense as much of the paper as they would like, which in most instances leads to excessive use of paper towel and thus paper waste.
There have been many attempts in the prior art to devise paper towel dispensers that prevent excessive dispensing of paper towel therefrom. These attempts involve the use of metering mechanisms which provide an impediment to continuous paper dispensing, typically by requiring the user to perform a certain act or wait for a period of time after a certain amount of paper towel has been dispensed before any further dispensing can continue. The extra act and/or time required by such metering mechanisms provide an impediment to excessive paper towel dispensing.
An example of a conventional paper towel dispenser having a metering mechanism is disclosed in U.S. No. Pat. 4,664,304 to Wendt et al. This patent describes a metering mechanism 64 having a button 69 that must be manually pressed by a user each time to enable a predetermined amount of paper towel to be dispensed. The button 69 is connected to a body 70 which is forced backward upon pressing the button inward so as to temporarily disengage the metering mechanism 64 and permit dispense of a predetermined length of paper towel. The button 69 projects from the front of the dispenser adjacent the bottom thereof, and is located adjacent the bottom stroke of an actuating rack 46 and handle 47 forming part of a drive mechanism to cause dispensing of paper towel. It has been found that this construction is susceptible to tampering and damage by smashing the button 69 and the body 70 connected thereto into the dispenser housing. Since the button and body are linked to the gears of the drive mechanism, the gears often times break, thereby rendering the dispenser inoperative. Furthermore, the Wendt et al. dispenser is awkward to operate, requiring a user to push in the button adjacent the base of the dispenser, and then reach to a different location on the dispenser to actuate the dispensing mechanism to dispense paper.
Therefore a need exists for an improved paper towel dispenser or the like and associated metering mechanism that is more tamper resistant to prevent intentional damage thereto. Furthermore, a need exists for a paper towel dispenser or the like and associated metering mechanism that is more ergonomic with respect to the design of the dispensing mechanism and the metering mechanism to permit more convenient and natural operation thereof A need also exists for a paper towel dispenser or the like and associated metering mechanism, in which the dispensing mechanism and metering mechanism are simple in design, thereby facilitating manufacture and construction of the dispenser, as well as making maintenance and repair work on the dispenser easier.